One way how to bring some fun and experience of marine environments to the public:

This was recently published in the New Zealand Herald and is a great approach to bring some knwoledge about marine life to young students or in this case school kids.
 

FAQ students

FAQ of students 

Recently we had a Field Course in Biology in the Lab supervised by Craig Radford. During their time up here they had an insight into marine research. Some students wanted to get some information about how to apply for a MSc or PhD at the Lab. Together with Melanie, Natali, Leo and myself we had a quick discussion about the most important questions.

Here is a summary of from what I remember were the most frequently asked questions:  



How do I get a MSc?
Bad news first: It´s all about grades. This is the best market price and how you can sell yourself and your ideas. Anyway if you show high commitment and interest in what you do you can polish the one or the other suboptimal grade.


How do I find a supervisor?
That is all up to yourself. Actually you can do that right from your office chair by searching the Universities webpages for your research interest. There will be heaps of names of Professors, Post-Docs and PhD students on the webpages with their contact details. Just be proactive and write them an email about your ideas and a BRIEF research outline. I promise they will come back to you. If not then you might have ended up in the Spam folder. Go for then for the old fashioned way and call them directly on their office number.

Who is the best supervisor for me?
Anybody you can work with. Ask recent MSc or PhD students about their experiences.



I´m sure I didn´t remember everything so:
Any more questions? Happy for any comments, discussion and suggestions?


Biggest advice I can give to you: Hold on and you will succeed!

Cheers
Jan

Under Construction

Blog under construction

With New Zealand`s policy of establishing Marine Reserves provides a unique potential to get people easily attached to marine life and its meaningfulness to the society. 
The former Leigh Marine Laboratory (now Institute of Marine Science) was founded in 1962 to undertake coastal reef research in the North Island of New Zealand. With the establishment of the Goat Island Marine Reserve in 1976 scientists of the Leigh Lab dedicated themselves to undertake research of MPA and non-MPA reefs in NZ with great success. 

What´s it all about?

This is a blog which will provide information about ongoing research at the Institute of Marine Science in Leigh, New Zealand. The basic aim is to make research accessible to everyone who is interested in the oceans and marine life. The first step of communicating the importance of the marine ecosystem to our society has been done by opening the Marine Discovery Centre (Link). 
Additionally this blog will provide information for young students doing their BSc or MSc looking for information what courses to choose and in which direction to go. This inisights could be useful as a guideline what marine science is about.  

Who are we? 

We are a group of MSc and PhD students doing their theses at the Institute of Marine Science in Leigh. As we are all in the middle of process of becoming responsible scientists in the future we are happy to share our experiences and current research problem with you. You can ask us any questions how it is doing a research thesis and how to get there. In the near future you will be able to directly follow us in our research by uploaded videos, pictures and publications.

As research is mainly funded by government and the economical sector we like to share our knowledge with everybody and to give an impression what and most important why we do what we do. It isn´t an easy question to answer, we can tell you that so far :). 

Location, Location, Location

For those who want to know where we are just click here. 

Links to the Institute of Marine Science and to our research portfolios

Institute of Marine Science 

People 

Questions and Suggestions?

Yet, there is not very much on this blog so I´m happy for any suggestions and of course happy to answer any questions. 

You can contact me directly on that email or on this blog. 

Cheers

Jan